The Truth About Ever After (23 page)

“Everything
looks great,” I said to the girls once we had finished up. “Now, when people
start arriving make sure you have them put presents on that table there.” I
pointed. “This one is for the cake.” I looked at my watch, feeling a pang of
worry. Eric was supposed to have been here with the cake fifteen minutes ago.

“I’m
gonna
try Eric again,” I
muttered, walking out into the hallway. I let the phone ring until the
voicemail picked up before sighing and hanging up. Where was he?

As
I turned to go back into the banquet room, I caught sight of Jen and Matt
entering the building. The sight of her made my breath catch; it suddenly hit
me that Jen was going to have a baby. I mean, I knew that, of course, but it
hadn’t really registered until that moment. She looked pregnant now, really
pregnant. Somehow I hadn’t noticed just how big her tummy had gotten, maybe
because I was seeing her every day at work. Or maybe it was the fact that she
was feeling better that made her look so transformed. I had almost gotten used
to the sight of her pale with dark circles under her eyes. Today, she looked
gorgeous. Cliché or not, she was absolutely glowing. I felt a lump form in my
throat as I ducked back into the room, thinking she might want to see the girls
before I started crying all over her.

“The
mommy’s here,” I told Annie and Ginny. “They’re on their way in.”

“What
do you think, Miss Event Planner?” Annie asked, gesturing around the room. “Everything
ready for her grand entrance?”

I
nodded. “We did good, girls.”

I
heard a little whimper behind me and spun around. Jen and Matt were standing in
the doorway. I watched in horror as her whimper turned into a sob. Jen covered
her face and completely burst into tears.

“What’s
wrong?” I cried. “Don’t you like it?”

“It’s
beautiful!” she gasped, not looking up. Matt grinned and put his arm around
her, rolling his eyes at us slightly.

“Don’t
mind her,” he said. “She cried when I buttered her toast this morning too.”

“Because
that was really sweet of you!” Jen cried from behind her hands.

“Don’t
you tease her,” Annie said in a mock-serious tone, elbowing Matt out of the way
so she could put her arm around Jen. “She can cry all she likes.”

“Yeah,”
Ginny agreed, stepping to Jen’s other side. “Carrying a baby is hard work.
Harder than anything you’ll ever do, mister. Jen needs a little spoiling.”

Matt
held up his hands in surrender. “You’re completely right,” he said. “She can
cry or do anything else she likes whenever she likes.”

“Be
nice to him. He’s perfect,” Jen said, finally looking up from behind her hands
to give Matt a watery smile. “He’s taking such good care of me.”

“Oh,
Jesus,” Annie muttered, apparently forgetting her edict that Jen could be as sappy
as she wanted to be.

“Kiki!”
Jen cried, spotting me across the room. “This is so, so nice. Come here and hug
me; I’m too fat to waddle over there.”

I
laughed and went to wrap my arms around her, feeling the swell of her belly
against my stomach. God, she really had gotten big. I thought back to my baby
book, wondering how much the little thing had grown by now.

“Come
and look at your flowers,” Ginny said, leading Jen away. I felt a little pang;
we should be showing Jen her cake. Where the hell was my husband?

“Hey,”
I said, grabbing Matt’s sleeve. He looked down at me. “Have you talked to your
brother today?”

“Yeah,”
Matt said. “I talked to him this morning. Asked him if he wanted to catch a
movie while this was going on, but he was working. Does he usually go in on
Saturdays?”

I
shook my head, feeling fear grow in my stomach. Eric was supposed to go in for
only a few hours today. It was the reason he was getting the cake; it would be
right on his way home to pick it up and stop here. Why hadn’t he told Matt
that? Had he forgotten?

“It
seems like he’s always at work these days,” Matt was saying. “Ever since his
promotion. Your dad must really be making him earn it, eh?”

I
knew Matt was teasing but I felt myself bristle all the same. Eric’s department
was nowhere near my dad’s office. There were at least six bosses between my
father and my husband; their interaction at work was minimal.

“Everything
okay?” Matt asked, looking concerned.

“Yeah,”
I said, turning back to the party. “Just something he was supposed to do for
me.”

As
I headed back to the girls I had a growing certainty that Eric was not coming.
Was he still at work now? What was I going to do? Should I leave the shower to
go get the cake myself? It was all the way on the other side of town. Maybe I
could have Matt do it? No, that didn’t seem right either, to send the
father-to-be out to get the cake. I sighed, and picked up my phone, determined
to call him one last time.

Two
minutes later, I was grabbing my purse, feeling more furious at my husband than
I ever had. He still wasn’t answering his phone, and I couldn’t believe he
would let me down today, that he would let his sister-in-law down. I was
practically shaking as I approached Ginny.

“I
have to go get the cake,” I told her. I saw her eyebrows go up in surprise.
“Eric totally flaked out on me. It’s probably
gonna
take me at least half an hour.”

Ginny’s
face fell. “I’ll go,” she said. “You stay here. You’ve worked so hard on this,
you shouldn’t miss it.”

“No
way,” I told her, already heading for the door. “You stay with Jen.” I looked
at my watch and sighed. “Appetizers are supposed to start in twenty minutes.
Are you cool with doing the welcome speech before they start serving?”

“Of
course,” Ginny said. “Don’t worry about anything, I’ve got this.”

“Eric’s
the one that should be worried,” I muttered to myself as I walked out of the
hall.

***

In
spite of the cake fiasco, the shower turned out just fine. At least that’s what
Jen kept telling me afterward.

“This
was great,
Kiks
,” she said, stretching out on her
couch and plopping her feet in my lap. “Seriously. Best shower ever.”

“I’m
glad you had fun,” I told her, leaning my head back on the couch. The
exhaustion had hit me as soon as the last gift was loaded in Matt’s truck. I
wished I could just go home, but I had agreed to hang out at Matt and Jen’s for
dinner with the girls, Josh, Nate, and Matt.

“Is
Eric coming?” Jen asked.

I
frowned. She probably didn’t need to hear about my marital drama right now.
“I’m not sure,” I said lightly. “He was working today.”

Eric
had actually called me several times in the last few hours, but I had
determinedly ignored every call. I was so angry with him that I was almost
afraid to talk to him.
Much better to cool off first.

The
front door swung open and Annie let out a cheer, making me jump. She had been
lying on the floor of the living room with her eyes closed. I had thought she
was sleeping. “It’s Josh with the pizza,” she called out. “We love Josh!”

Jen
and I giggled as
Josh
rolled his eyes. “Just how drunk
are you, Ann?”

“Very,”
she said happily. “Restaurant had really good wine.”

“Get
up, you lush,” Nate said, coming in from the kitchen with a six-pack of beer
and nudging her with his foot. “It’s only six p.m. for Christ’s sake.”

“I’ve
been drunk since three!” she said proudly, giggling in a very un-Annie-like
way.

Nate
snorted and reached down to pull her up. “Let’s get some food into you.”

Josh
deposited the pizza down on the coffee table and Matt brought out paper plates.

“I
love this whole people bringing-the-food-to-me thing,” Jen said, smiling. “I
don’t even have to move.”

“You’re
the pretty princess today,” Annie snorted. “Pretty party princess Jen.”

“Oh,
my God,” Ginny muttered. “Why the hell didn’t we cut her off?”

As
everyone gathered around the coffee table, I felt a stab of loneliness.
Everyone was paired up with
their
guy, and my husband
was AWOL. I tried to put it out of my head and just enjoy the company, but it
was hard.

Halfway
through my second piece of pizza there was a knock on the door.

“Come
in!” Matt called. The front door swung open, revealing Eric standing there. I
couldn’t help the scowl that came across my face. I did not want to have the
inevitable fight with him here.

“
Oooh
, Eric,” Annie said, shaking her finger at him. “You’re
in
trou-ble
. Kiki is mad at you. And you don’t want
to see Kiki when she’s mad.” Annie started laughing at her own words, but Jen
must have caught sight of my expression.

“Shut
up, Annie,” she hissed. Miraculously, Annie listened to her. Looking somewhat
awkward, Eric joined us.

“How
was the shower?” he asked in a bright voice, his eyes flickering over to me
nervously.

You should be nervous
, I thought.

“It
was great,” Jen said, still watching my face. “Kiki did an amazing job. She’s
the best sister-in-law a girl could want.”

“Ginny
and Annie did just as much,” I mumbled. I appreciated Jen’s words but I really
didn’t want any more attention on me right then. I prayed for someone else to
start talking. Maybe Jen picked up on my vibes, because she quickly started to
talk to Ginny about the relative quality of the two highchairs she had gotten
that day.

After
dinner I figured it would be okay to make my excuses and get out of there.

“You
don’t want to hang out?” Eric asked, surprised.

“I’ve
had a really long day,” I said, trying to keep my voice even in case anyone
else could hear us. “But you can feel free to stay and hang out with your
brother.”

“No,”
he said quickly. “I want to go with you.”

“Whatever
you want,” I said, turning away from him.

“Kiki—”

“Not
now,” I said, my voice low.

I
found Jen in the kitchen, helping Matt to clear up. They were both laughing at
something, clearly happy. Matt rested his hand lightly on her belly as she passed
him, making my heart turn over. I was filled with the worst kind of jealousy—for
her perfect marriage, for the child she was about to have, even for her
relationship with the two girls in the living room.

Stop it
, I ordered myself.
None
of this is her fault
.

“You
taking off?” she asked, catching sight of me in the doorway.

“Yeah,
I’m pretty beat,” I said, plastering a big smile on my face. I prayed it would
hold out until I got outside.

Jen
came to me and wrapped me up in a big hug. “Thank you so much for today, Kiki.
I meant what I said: you’re the best sister in the world.”

I
closed my eyes shut tight, willing myself not to cry. “Right back at
ya
,” I whispered.

I
felt the strangest movement against my stomach and Jen pulled back, smiling at
me. “Did you feel that?
Here.
” She took my hand and
held it against her stomach, and I felt it again. Something moving. “I guess the
baby wanted to say bye to its Aunt Kiki.”

I
stared down at my hand, overwhelmed. Her baby had just kicked me!
My first little niece or nephew.
I felt a rush of love for
Jen and for Matt and for this baby, which was swiftly followed by guilt for the
jealous feelings I’d had only moments before. Some aunt I was.

“Wow,”
I whispered, rubbing her tummy. “Hi, little baby. I’m going to love you so
much.”

I
looked up and saw Jen and Matt both smiling at me, big huge smiles full of
love. I felt my control slip a notch, the tears inching closer.

“I
should go,” I said, pulling my hand back. I kissed Jen’s cheek then turned to
Matt, who bent so I could repeat the action. “I love you guys.”

“Thanks
again,” Jen called after me as I walked out of the kitchen.

“Yeah,
thanks, Kiki!” Matt echoed.

I
peeked my head into the living room to say goodnight to the girls. Annie and
Ginny were sitting on the couch, laughing about something, Annie’s legs draped
over Ginny’s lap.
 
Ginny had a beer
in her hand, clearly enjoying her night off from her children, and seemingly
determined to join Annie in the land of tipsiness.

“Night,
girls,” I said, waving.

“Kiki,
come hug me!” Annie yelled. “I love you!”

For
some reason even Annie’s drunken silliness made me feel sad. I wanted nothing
more than to curl up with the girls, get my own beer, and spend the evening
giggling. But my heart wasn’t in it; I just felt too mixed up about Eric and
tired of being emotional. So I walked over to the girls and hugged them each,
before turning back to the front door and slipping out into the warm summer
darkness, Eric behind me.